Tubular Steel, Inc.
Organization
Tubular Steel, Inc.
Industry
Distribution
Tubular Steel is a leading
national distributor of carbon,
alloy and stainless steel pipe,
tubing, and bar products.
“We were such a basket-case that the
most effective consulting firm we could
find (and it has a very high national
profile) could do nothing with us, despite months of trying. Fortunately,
this firm was familiar with Arbinger and
referred us to them. Nothing has been
the same since. We are now the most
profitable company in our industry –
doubling and even tripling the ROI of
our nearest competitors. As a result of
Arbinger, we have exceeded goals and
created camaraderie to an extent completely unprecedented in my career.”
Larry Heitz
Former CEO
Tubular Steel
Overcoming Operational Silos to Generate
4x Growth Despite a Rapidly Shrinking Market
Challenge
Tubular Steel, a national distributor headquartered in St. Louis, was burdened
with a siloed culture characterized by politicking and infighting. The operational
heads who comprised the executive team communicated to the CEO but not
laterally with each other, resulting in massive amounts of waste and poor
productivity. Though the company had engaged one of the highest-profile
change management consul-tants in the country, the company could not seem to
get any traction. Turnover was high, with some of the company’s best talent
leaving in scores. Throwing up their hands, the management consultancy then
working with the company pronounced the situation as “hopeless.”
Solution
Believing their challenges required a fundamental shift in mindset, the CEO engaged Arbinger. Arbinger began working with the executive team in weekly training sessions and with members of the management team one-on-one. Through
this combination of group training and executive coaching, the leaders came to
understand their impact on each other and the organization and began to reconceive their work to account for that impact. The then Executive Assistant to the
CEO, Larry Heitz, delegated all other responsibilities in order to devote his full time
to operationalizing Arbinger throughout the organization. This implementation included the training of staff company wide and the development of new metrics and
processes that would enable each employee to measure their impact on
overall company performance.
Results
Tubular Steel’s employees transformed the company. Equipped with an outward
mindset, team members devised new and innovative ways to adjust their work to
improve producitvity and performance. Team members rallied to develop unique
approaches to create competitive advantage a declining market. As a result, during
the time when the market for their products decreased dramatically from 10 million
tons down to 6 million tons, the company nevertheless grew by a factor of four.
“We grew from 30 million to over a hundred million and more than quadrupled our
profits,” said Mr. Heitz, who later became President and CEO. “This is not soft stuff.
Bottom line is that Arbinger can help a company make more profit. You get further
ahead with a cooperative culture and you make more money because of it.” Unlike
so many training initiatives that seem to amount to nothing more than a flash in
the pan, the change Arbinger enable within Tubular was a fundamental change in
mindset, buttressed with new ways of working. Remarking on the longevity of this
change, Mr. Heitz noted, “the training and infrustructure that was put in place was
so deep rooted that the company has continued to be successful ever since.”